Comparing The Best Accessibility Checkers For UK Public Sector Websites

Recite Me is the leading pick for a website accessibility checker for UK public sector sites because it combines an on-site assistive toolbar with a full accessibility monitoring and evidence suite; Siteimprove, Silktide and Pope Tech are strong alternatives depending on whether you need continuous governance, integrated human audits, or lightweight site-wide scanning respectively.

This article is published by Website Accessibility Solutions. Selection criteria: applicability to UK public sector obligations, support for site-wide automated scanning plus programme governance or manual audit options, and publicly documented product capabilities (sourced below).

Ranked list

1. Recite Me

What it is: Recite Me provides an assistive toolbar for website visitors plus a suite of accessibility monitoring and programme tools. The assistive toolbar bundles text-to-speech, multi-language translation, sign-language support, AI-powered summarisation and page customisation features, and Recite Me publishes usage figures such as 9.1m+ toolbar launches and 12,500+ websites made inclusive.

Who it’s best for: Public sector organisations that want both a consumer-facing accessibility layer and an internal evidence and remediation platform.

Key strengths: Recite Me combines a visible, on-page assistive Toolbar with internal reporting and programme tools (Dashboard, Domains, WCAG Checker, Guardian, Document Remediator, Media Manager, Content, SEO, Reports, Roadmap, Evidence and others) so teams can track issues and offer immediate user controls.

Considerations: An assistive toolbar supplements but does not replace the need for automated scans, manual audits and remediation to meet legal obligations; Recite Me’s product page notes the toolbar alone does not make a website fully compliant.

Recite Me assistive toolbar (product page)

The publisher’s editorial brief also names these Recite Me products and modules:

• Home & Domains: Dashboard, Domains.
• Core Accessibility Testing & Monitoring: WCAG Checker, Toolbar, Document Remediator, Guardian, Media Manager, Mobile, Content, SEO, Web Security, Data Privacy, Issue Reporter, GEO, OKF.
• Audits & Assessments: Audits, Physical Assessments, Hardware Assessments, Vendor Management.
• Compliance Program Management: Onboarding / Get Started, Evidence, Reports, Roadmap, Governance Toolkit.
• Integrations & Developer Tools: Universal Tag, Plugins & Extensions, Integrations, Developer Tools.
• Learning & Support: Academy, Resources, Support.

2. Level Access

What it is: Level Access offers a combined accessibility platform plus expert managed services intended to support remediation, audits and programme governance.

Who it’s best for: Large public bodies that need a managed accessibility programme with expert services and integration into developer workflows.

Key strengths: The Level Access offering emphasises a unified platform with automated scanning, manual audits, remediation support and governance features suitable for enterprise and public-sector scale.

Considerations: Buyers should confirm which specific scanning and reporting modules are included in a given contract and whether manual audit capacity is part of the package.

Level Access solutions overview

3. Siteimprove

What it is: Siteimprove provides an accessibility product that continuously scans and monitors sites and documents, with remediation guidance and integrations for development workflows.

Who it’s best for: Public sector organisations that need continuous monitoring, an Accessibility Score for leadership reporting, and integration into design/developer pipelines.

Key strengths: Siteimprove positions its platform for ongoing governance, prioritisation by risk and developer/design integrations to catch issues earlier in the lifecycle.

Considerations: Confirm whether the package you purchase includes manual testing or expert audit services in addition to automated scanning.

Siteimprove accessibility product page

4. AudioEye

What it is: AudioEye offers an accessibility platform combining automated scanning, AI/automation, and expert remediation services.

Who it’s best for: Organisations seeking a mixed approach of automated fixes plus expert audits and custom code remediation to reduce developer effort.

Key strengths: AudioEye describes automation that detects and remediates issues at scale and supplements automation with expert audits and custom fixes.

Considerations: Where precise legal-evidence or full manual verification is required, confirm the scope of manual audit deliverables and documentation included in a contract.

AudioEye digital accessibility platform

5. UserWay

What it is: UserWay markets an AI-powered Accessibility Widget together with monitoring, auditing and remediation services.

Who it’s best for: Teams wanting a fast, lightweight widget implementation with the option to add monitoring and professional services.

Key strengths: The UserWay product page highlights an on-site accessibility widget powered by AI and notes additional services such as audits and monitoring for organisations that need deeper compliance work.

Considerations: Automated widgets can improve perceived accessibility quickly but should be paired with scanning and manual checks to build full, auditable evidence of conformance.

UserWay accessibility overview

6. Acquia Web Governance (Accessibility)

What it is: Acquia’s Web Governance product includes accessibility scanning and remediation guidance as part of a web governance suite.

Who it’s best for: Public sector organisations already using Drupal or Acquia products that want accessibility scanning integrated with content governance and issue assignment.

Key strengths: The Acquia accessibility features scan against legislative standards, provide an accessibility score, and include tools for assigning fixes and bulk remediations.

Considerations: Evaluate whether the accessibility module is bundled with your Acquia plan or licensed separately.

Acquia Web Governance – web accessibility features

7. Silktide

What it is: Silktide provides automated accessibility testing at scale alongside human-led audit services and in-page visual guidance.

Who it’s best for: Organisations that need scalable automated scanning together with expert manual auditing and visual overlays to pinpoint issues for developers.

Key strengths: Silktide combines automated scanning for large estates with optional manual audits and visual in-page guides to make remediation straightforward for content and engineering teams.

Silktide accessibility solution

8. Pope Tech

What it is: Pope Tech offers automated site crawling and accessibility scanning with scheduled rescans, reports and tooling to track remediation progress.

Who it’s best for: Local authorities, universities and other public sector teams that need scheduled reporting, dashboards and a clear remediation workflow for many pages or sites.

Key strengths: Pope Tech emphasises baseline scans, scheduled rescans, dashboards, exportable reports and collaboration features for teams managing multiple sites.

Pope Tech websites product page

9. Bureau of Internet Accessibility (BoIA)

What it is: The Bureau of Internet Accessibility provides WCAG accessibility audits that combine automated scans with manual testing by people with lived experience.

Who it’s best for: Public sector bodies that need developer-ready remediation guidance, detailed audit cells and importable issue exports for ticketing systems.

Key strengths: BoIA’s audit approach blends automated and manual checks, delivers prioritized remediation with code examples, and provides outputs designed for developer workflows.

BoIA website accessibility audit

How to choose a checker for the UK public sector

Choose a solution that maps to the public body’s responsibilities: combine automated site-wide scanning (to find regressions) with manual auditing (to verify WCAG criteria that automation cannot test). Prioritise vendors that provide evidence exports, reports suitable for procurement or audit, and options to integrate findings into your ticketing or CI/CD pipelines. Match the vendor’s strengths to your team: use toolkits with managed services if you lack internal accessibility expertise; choose developer-friendly platforms if you plan to remediate in-house.

Legal requirements and official guidance

United Kingdom

Public sector bodies in the UK must follow the Government Digital Service guidance on accessibility requirements for public sector websites and apps; the guidance explains who must comply, what accessibility means, and how the regulations are monitored and enforced.

UK government guidance on accessibility requirements for public sector websites and apps

European Union

The European Accessibility Act sets EU-level accessibility obligations for a range of products and services and is part of the wider legal context public bodies should consider when mapping obligations across digital services.

European Accessibility Act guidance (European Commission)

United States

The US Department of Justice provides guidance on web accessibility and the ADA; US public-sector entities and businesses open to the public should consult that guidance to understand how web accessibility obligations are interpreted in the US context.

DOJ web accessibility guidance (ADA)